The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-295610, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opening and closing apparatus of a vehicular opening and closing member for connecting an opening and closing member pivotably attached to a vehicular body openably and closably and a rack meshed with an output gear pivotably supported by a side of the vehicle body and moved by rotating the output gear and moving the to open said close the opening and closing member by moving the rack.
2. Related Art
According to an opening and closing apparatus of a vehicular opening and closing member of a related art, a driving unit having a regularly and reversely rotatable motor, a gear box provided with an output gear for reducing to output rotation of the motor and a rack meshed with an output gear and reciprocally moved in a front and gear direction is installed at a space between a lower face side of a roof panel and a roof trim on an inner side of a vehicle compartment, a rear end portion of the rack is connected to a side of an opening and closing member of a rear gate or the like pivotably attached openably and closably in an up and down direction by a hinge shaft directed in a left and right direction of a vehicle body and the opening and closing member is pivoted in an opening direction and a closing direction by reciprocally moving the rack in the front and rear direction by rotating the output gear (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-A-2001-280000).
However, according to the above-described opening and closing apparatus of a vehicular opening and closing member of the related art, there is a concern of transmitting vibration of the opening and closing member disposed at a closed position in running the vehicle to the output pinion meshed with the rack via the rack and the vibration transmitted to the output pinion is transmitted to the gear box, the vehicle body and the like to emit large vibration sound.
In view of the above-described problem provided to the related art, it is an object of the invention to provide an opening and closing apparatus of a vehicular opening and closing member preventing vibration from being transmitted to a side of an output gear when the opening and closing member is disposed at a closed position.
According to the invention, the above-described program is solved as follows.
(1) An opening and closing apparatus adapted for opening and closing an opening and closing member pivotably attached to a vehicle body, the opening and closing apparatus comprising:
an output gear pivotably supported in a side of the vehicle body;
a rack meshed with the output gear, the rack being moved by a rotation of the output gear and so as to open and close the opening and closing member by moving the rack,
the rack including a first teeth portion and a second teeth portion, wherein the rack is meshed with the output gear at the first teeth portion when the opening and closing member is opened, and the rack is meshed with the output gear at the second teeth portion when the opening and closing member is closed, and
a clearance between a tooth surface of a tooth in the second teeth portion and a mating tooth of the output gear is larger than a clearance between a tooth surface of a tooth of the first teeth portion and a mating tooth of the output gear.
(2) In the above-described item (1), a reference pitch line of the second teeth portion may be shifted from a reference pitch line of the first teeth portion in a direction of being remote from the output gear.
(3) In the above-described item (1), a tooth width of a tooth in the second teeth portion may be smaller than a tooth width of a tooth in the first teeth portion.
(4) Another aspect of the invention provides:
An opening and closing apparatus adapted for opening and closing an opening and closing member pivotably attached to a vehicle body, the opening and closing apparatus comprising:
an output gear pivotably supported in a side of the vehicle body;
a rack meshed with the output gear, the rack being moved by a rotation of the output gear and so as to open and close the opening and closing member by moving the rack,
the rack including a first teeth portion and a second teeth portion, wherein the rack is meshed with the output gear at the first teeth portion when the opening and closing member is opened, and the rack is meshed with the output gear at the second teeth portion when the opening and closing member is closed, and
a distance between opposing tooth surfaces in each adjacent teeth in the second teeth portion is made larger than a distance between opposing tooth surfaces in each adjacent teeth in the first teeth portion.